This Netflix docu shows how boybands are exploited

Maybe there is something like an algorithm on Netflix, something that deals with what I am looking for. Because since I have been closely following all the news surrounding Liam Payne, suddenly there was a documentary among my recommendations that was released online in July this year. Still, I understand where it comes from, even if Netflix is not looking at my search history, because it is just a very current topic. ‘Dirty Pop: The Boyband Scam’ shows how dirty things can get in the pop world, and in this case specifically in the management of the world’s most popular boybands. We get a small glimpse into the life of the man who made bands like ’the Backstreet Boys’ and ’*NSYNC‘ big.

‘The Backstreet Boys’ were totally misled

Now that Simon Cowell is being accused of having a share in Liam's death, probably because people also think he exploited the boys, it is of course extra interesting to take a look at what can go wrong in the pop world. Lou Pearlman was the mastermind behind ’the Backstreet Boys’, and he knew exactly how to make them big. By having the boys perform all over the country at high schools first, he ensured that girls could become infatuated with the boys, making them popular by default. Strangely enough, the band was only known in Germany for the first two years. Eventually, their fame also grew in America, and then the boys were no longer safe from the grabbing hands of teenage girls worldwide. The sad thing is, they were away from home for two years during that first period. And it turned out later, for a pittance. The deal they made with Lou was not as advantageous for them as he made them believe. As a result, they worked themselves to the bone for Lou's luxurious lifestyle, but kept very little for themselves. Eventually, they filed a lawsuit about this which they managed to win, but by then Lou was already busy with the next boyband that would earn the fixed costs of his villa: ‘*NSYNC’.

But he made many more victims

Because Lou claimed to be making huge profits with, among other things, his airline, unsuspecting outsiders also invested in his businesses. Large sums of savings were transferred to this man. How this fraudster was ultimately unmasked, I will not reveal. And also the strange details that the members of ‘The Backstreet Boys’ and ‘*NSYNC’ share are too strange to be able to write down clearly. Be sure to watch it yourself, and maybe you will also gain new insights regarding the mental health of major pop idols. It is probably no coincidence that many of them ultimately struggle with drug and alcohol addictions.